the reliability of john's witness
John 21:24-25 ~ Terry phillips
April 14, 2019
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The Reliability of John’s Witness
This morning we’re going to read the last two verses. John's Gospel, John chapter 21 verses 24 and 25.
“This is the disciple who bears witness of these things, and wrote these things, and we know that his witness is true. And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books which were written.”
We’ve come to the last of John's Gospel, our study our consideration of this portion of God's word this morning, and we want to look in closing at these last two verses, especially the 24th verse this morning. At the conclusion of John's Gospel, John makes an emphatic declaration about the reliability of what it is that he's written. This is a statement that is somewhat similar to the statement that he makes at the conclusion of our Lord's suffering, and then death on the cross. You recall back in John 19 verse 35 he said this,
“And he who has seen has borne witness and his witness is true and he knows that he is telling the truth so that you also may believe.”
John, in that passage there in the 19th chapter and then at the close of this---of this gospel, he sets himself forth as a first-hand and fully reliable witness to the things that he's written. This kind of statement invites the closest scrutiny, but it also anticipates a favorable conclusion. A reliable first-hand witness is of immeasurable value in determining the validity of any serious claim. Stop and think about that this morning how important a first-hand, a reliable first-hand witness is. This reality plays out in our judicial system all of the time. Does it not? Importance of a reliable first-hand witness. A credible first-hand witness is the strongest evidence in convincing a jury of 12 people that a defendant is guilty. That is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. You can have the best lawyers, you can have all kinds of physical evidence, and some of it is impressive these days, but any prosecutor would tell you that what they want more than anything else is a credible first-hand witness. That’s not always possible, but when you have that you have a lot. In this very concept that we see worked out in our criminal justice system day by day, we recognize something that's very important, we recognize that it is not necessary to personally witness a moment in time in order to determine that it is true even beyond the threshold of reasonable doubt. We recognize that, do we not? It is not necessary to personally witness a moment in time in order to determine that it is true even beyond the threshold of reasonable doubt. This concept is a basic concept, of course, but it's extremely important. It’s something we take for granted in life. If you and I could never be convinced of anything beyond our own personal sphere of experience, we would become paralyzed, we would be confined to the moment, we would be isolated from the most beneficial and sublime realities possible to humanity, when you think about it. This is something that's very basic. It’s something that we count on, we depend on, and we incorporate it constantly in our lives. We may not think about it all the time. But even in the area of history---there would be no history if this was not true. There wouldn't be anything that you could write about what happened in the past unless you had experienced it personally, that would be of any value to you, that you could put any confidence in. Obviously, this is an important matter. Nowhere is this concept more crucial than in the matter of divine revelation. Can we be certain of what is recorded in the Bible? Is it something we can be absolutely certain of? We make that determination about many things that we’re confronted with in this world. Specifically, this morning as it applies the passage were looking at, can we be certain of what John has recorded about Jesus of Nazareth? Now I want you to notice what John says in this 24th verse. “This is the disciple who bears witness of these things and wrote these things and we know (we know) that his witness is true.” Notice John doesn't just set forth his witness has been fully reliable, but he claims that it is possible for others to be fully convinced of his truthfulness. “This is the disciple who bears witness of these things and we know, (we know) that his witness is true.” How can this be? How, and I think this is important, how do we determine the credibility of someone who has borne witness of something we could not have seen for ourselves? How do we determined that? How do we decide what to believe? Every thought about that? How you do you decide who's witness to believe and who’s witness to reject? This is something that each of us has to do many times throughout our lives though we don't even probably give it a lot of thought much of the time. Now when it comes to really crucial issues, and if you're being seated---if you are on a jury, and you're given that responsibility, then you are going to take that pretty seriously. Someone's life could be in the balance in the extreme case. But this is true for lots of things that come our way in life. We have to make a determination and there's nothing quite like a first-hand witness, a reliable, credible, first-hand witness. Nothing like it.
There are some simple but crucial observations to be made when we make this determination. I like to just maybe---if you could think of yourself as being on a jury this morning, and thinking this through, weighing this out, trying to take a neutral position if you will. Stepping back and saying, “How can I be sure of what John says? How can I know that his witness concerning Jesus of Nazareth is true?” Several things that I want to bring to your attention.
The first thing that you consider in regards to reliable witness, is motive; it’s motive. Does this witness have a motive, have a clear motive to lie? That's really what it comes down to, does it not, when you try to establish the credibility of a witness on the stand. The question is whether or not, first of all, that this witness has the right motive? Or, more importantly, and it usually from the negative perspective, does this witness have a motive to not tell the truth? I want you to think about this in relation to John, the apostle. Would there be any means by which we could determine that it would be obvious that this man had the motive to be untruthful in his description of Jesus of Nazareth? Think back on the life that this man lived. John is writing this record of the account of the Lord Jesus Christ many years after the synoptic Gospels had been written. It was most likely somewhere around 85 to 90 A.D. when John wrote this gospel. So, this is a long time after Jesus had died and had been raised from the dead and ascended to the Father. Many, many, years have passed. Probably close to 60. Well over half a century had passed, and many, many, years had passed since the last of the other three Gospels had been written. John had lived a life that had indeed embraced the costliness, the very difficulties of declaring these things to be true, of laying hold of them and embracing them personally. He ended up banished to the island of Patmos for some time towards the very end of his life. And from what we know later on, he was actually able to go, to leave there, and die, in one of the few---if probably the only of the apostles that died of natural causes, as opposed to being martyred. What would have been his monetary gain to be untruthful in this? What would have been his motive to lie, to distort the record of Jesus of Nazareth? Especially again, keeping in mind that point in time in his life when this was written. Pretty difficult to find a motive, any clear motive, any clear opportunity for him to have a motive that would throw into question or throw doubt upon his record.
A second thing---I want to go to these fairly quickly because I realize we don't have time to work them all out completely, and maybe you'll have an opportunity to do that on your own as you meditate on this, because it’s really important. How do I know this is true? So, the first thing is to be considered is motive. If it's clear, if in a courtroom a lawyer can---the defense lawyer can make it very obvious that this witness has---clearly has a motive to not tell the truth, that's going to may throw that witnesses testimony out the window. A second thing, and that is the maturity and the mental alertness of the witness. One thing is obvious. If you have a witness that is too young, it can be pretty difficult to believe their testimony. You aren't really sure. Do they really even understand what's going on, what's happened. Was John just a little boy when these things happened, so now he's looking back on them and blowing them out of proportion, or really not having the ability to understand even what he had seen at that point in time, and then interpreting it later on. I think that’s pretty clear, we know that very clearly that John was he was a contemporary of the Lord. He was not just a little one. But more importantly, what about his mental alertness? Is there reason to question the mental capacity of this witness? For example: Is his witness one where he is rambling off in one direction and then another, hard to follow, he’s incoherent. That's the kind of things were looking for. Here’s somebody who is bearing witness, but they tend to sort of ramble and get way off the subject and it's even very difficult to follow them. Surely, I would say, I would think that we could say, after going through John's Gospel, nothing could be further from the truth in the record that we have before us. This is a man who is mentally alert. This is a man who wrote out very concisely, very clearly, very coherently, this record of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ.
A third thing that you consider when it comes to the reliability of a witness; is there consistency. This is extremely important. Here’s someone in a courtroom there, bearing witness to certain facts, and as questions are asked them, and as they describe for the judge and the jury what happened there begins to be inconsistencies in their account. Their credibility is greatly compromised. I learned this firsthand many years ago, I think was about 40 years ago that I went to Small Claims Court and appeared before a judge with a customer that didn't want to pay their bill. And I remember the judge was very patient, he listened to each of our sides of the issue. I described my point of view, the customer described his point of view. And I will never forget, when we were done, the judge said---looked to the customer and he said, he said, “You know, on the things you've said, you contradicted yourself several times.” And then he said right out, he said, “Because of that, you've lost credibility.” I thought---I’ve never forgotten that. How important that is. You contradict yourself and, boy, it's hard to believe a witness like that. I would again submit to you this morning, the record of this account. Is there inconsistency? The consistency of this account is actually remarkable when you think about it. John is clear about his testimony, the witness that he bears. There is no inconsistency in it. I challenge you to consider that.
A fourth thing to consider when you consider the reliability of a witness, and that is the nature of the testimony itself. The nature of the testimony itself. For example: Is it related factually, or is there an obvious tendency towards misrepresentation, i.e., exaggeration, or just leaving out important details. Are there included in that testimony, that witness, pertinent, specific, personal, details that could have only been known by someone who was right there. Think of all the times we've noticed that in John's Gospel, little details that he noticed, specific things that he brought to brings to our attention, things that are not brought to the attention to our attention in the other three Gospels. Think about some of those very specific things that John details for us. We won’t take the time to go through those again. We won't have the time to do that this morning. We've been through these, and I ask you to consider that.
Another thing in regards to the nature of the testimony, and that is---is the narrative original. Is this coming straight from this man, or does it become obvious after a time that he's repeating something that you sort of become legend, he's repeating certain phrases and things that other people have said and he's latched onto them. Many times, this is the case with a witness and it compromises their credibility. It becomes obvious they're just mimicking what they've been told to say, or what they expect you or think that you want to hear. Surely that can't be said of this account. John says many things in this account that undoubtedly, we wouldn't want to hear---his readers. It's not that he's placating his readers. He's not declaring and he’s not testifying of just those things that he assumes we would want to hear. He's a firsthand witness. Here’s someone who saw these things. He includes very important details. He’s is not prone to exaggeration. He declares what happened and he declares it from his own perspective.
A fifth thing to be considered in the reliability of the witness, and that is this; is there a corroborative witness. That is to say, is there another witness who will corroborate or who will verify what this witness is saying. In a criminal case, there's nothing quite so important as an eyewitness, but far more powerful is two or more credible eyewitnesses. Pretty tough to get around. If you have two or more witnesses whose stories match-up, whose stories are the same, who are consistent in what they say, who can include details from their perspective of how they saw something transpire---it’s extremely powerful evidence. Is it not? Is there corroborative witness in the case of John's testimony? I don't know how there could be much more corroborative and powerful witness alongside that of John. Think of those other apostles who also walked with Jesus, who listened to Him, who observed what He said, and what He did, His teaching, the way that He lived, His death, His burial, His resurrection. When you think of corroborative witnesses in this case there's really nothing quite like it. You would be hard-pressed to find any case that is so---so strongly evidenced as this. Here you have 12 men who knew the truth. Every one of them, with the exception of John as far as we know from the historical record, gave up their lives not in one mass suicide, but individually over periods of time alone, in other places where they were proclaiming the gospel. Of course, we have record of who James was killed with the sword by Herod. We know that Peter was crucified. Paul was beheaded, both of them killed under Nero. We have accounts from Josephus and other historians regarding the other of the apostles, one by one they died they laid down their lives. You talk about a corroborative witness, every one of them laid down their lives for the same witness about Jesus of Nazareth. Not one of them had something different or inconsistent to declare about Christ. Every one of them for the same witness and gave up their lives for that witness. Time and again, all they would've had to do was simply let go of it, let it go---forget this. No longer---there's no---no longer are you to mention this, no longer are you to proclaim this to be true and your life can be spared. Not one of them chose to do that. Very difficult lives that these men faced, very difficult pressures. They were ostracized, ridiculed, mocked, driven away from the people who were the “Who's Who” in the religious world of their day. Is there corroborative witness? You bet. To me it’s one of the most powerful things. One of the most powerful evidences of the truth of the gospel. If you think about this, people will say, “Well, you know, what about these people who give up their lives?” There’s people all over this world who give up their lives for a cause. How many Muslims have blown themselves up for their cause, because they're firmly convinced that they’ll go to heaven for doing so. What's the difference? The difference is huge. The difference is this, those Muslims don't know that what they believe is true. These men knew that what they believed was true. They were first hand witnesses of the teaching, the miraculous power, the death, and the resurrection of God's Christ. If they were bearing false witness, they knew they were bearing false witness. That's the distinction, and it's a huge distinction. You don't die for something you know to be false. You don't stand for something, you don't live your life or something, you don't give your whole life to something that you know is a lie. You might give your whole life, and millions of people in this world do and are doing so to this day, giving their lives for something they believe to be true, but they don't know that it's true. They can't be certain that it’s true. The evidence isn't there. They've been indoctrinated. These men had not been indoctrinated. They had become convinced because they had been firsthand eyewitnesses of the Lord Jesus.
A sixth question to ask about a witness to determine the reliability, is there corroborative evidence? Is there corroborative witness, is there corroborative evidence? Is there evidence of genuine impact directly related to the witness that is being made, that is to say, if this witness is true, that in many cases, there would be, not in every case, but in this case, there most certainly would be, evidence that it is true, and that it is believable, and that it is being believed, that their witness is being believed? I ask you is there any such evidence of John's witness? At the time that John wrote this he could say, we know that his witness is true. Think of how many more people 60 years later knew that this witness was true when John wrote this as opposed to the time these events took place. Now I ask you, how many more people know that this is true, have come to realize the truth and the validity of his witness, since that time, almost 2000 years later? It's not just a few dozen or a few hundred or a few thousand, or even a few million, it’s a lot. But even at the time that John wrote this would've been thousands upon thousands whose lives and transformed.
One last question that you ask in considering whether a witness is reliable, Is there a more reasonable explanation for all this? Here's the witness that John bears of Christ. Is there, is it possible there's a better explanation for this? This many times is what takes place in a courtroom. That lawyer is trying to get trying to come up with something---what, what about this possibility? Couldn't this be what really happened, so that your mistaken? Is that the case in the witness of John? Is there another rational explanation for his testimony? You know, it's interesting over time, to recognize to listen to some of the theories that people have put forward. And it's not surprising to see how, how briefly they’ve lasted---the fact that they’ve gained no traction. You have to come up with some pretty silly and childish theories, that's all you're left with to try and undermine a witness this powerful. What a remarkable thing. It's no accident. It is no accident, it is by divine appointment that God has provided so powerful a witness concerning His Christ. You and I can know that this witness is true.
Now, I want to ask you this morning, or I’ll make this statement. In the light of so strong a witness, there are far reaching implications. Are there not? If this witness is to be believed, if it is true, if this is a reliable, a credible witness, then we've got some things here to really think about. We've got something here to build our whole life on. The claims, the teaching, the assurances of the eternal Word made flesh, are to be taken more seriously than anything or anyone else, period. If this witness is that reliable. There's nothing more important because of those claims, because of the record that we have just gone through in John's gospel. If these things are true, if this witness is fully reliable, then this witness is more important than anything or anyone else we could ever consider in this life. This is life itself. That's what Jesus Himself claimed. I remind you of some of the statements that are made in John's Gospel, at the very outset of his gospel. How does John begin this record? “In the beginning.” This goes back further than Genesis 1:1. If you've ever seen a chronological Bible. Sometimes you'll see some of these are published and they’re published in chronological order. This is the first verse, “In the beginning was the Word.” This was before the earth was created. “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the word was God.” Verse 14, “And the Word became flesh.” This is the witness that’s before us, Eternal God made flesh, dwelt among us, “And we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John the Baptist makes the remarkable declaration later on in that first chapter when he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Consider---I remind you of those great, those grand statements of the Lord Jesus Himself concerning who He is. “I Am the Bread of Life.” “I Am the Light of the world.” “I Am the door.” “I Am the Good Shepherd.” “I Am the Resurrection and the Life.” “I Am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” “I Am the true vine.” In the light of who Jesus is, you stop and consider then, these are the statements---this is the witness that is born. These are the statements Jesus made. And in conquering death, He verified every last word that He had ever said. In the light of who He is, He makes the most blessed of all invitations and assurances in relation to who He declares Himself to be. Going back to some of those very same declarations, John chapter 6 verse 35, “I Am the Bread of Life.” Notice the invitation. “He who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.” Verse 37, “The one who comes to me I will certainly not cast out.” Chapter 7 verse 37 and 38. “If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, from his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.” Chapter 8 verse 12, “I Am the Light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life.” John chapter 10 verse 7, “Jesus therefore said to them again, truly, truly, I say to you I Am the door of the sheep. All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I Am the door. If anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly.” Recall what Jesus said to Nicodemus in chapter 3 verse 16, a verse so well-known, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 11 verse 25, “Jesus said to Martha, I Am the Resurrection and the Life. He who believes in Me,” notice this invitation and assurance, “He who believes in Me shall live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die.” This is the witness. This is the witness that John bears concerning Christ, the credible the reliable witness.
For those who respond to the Lord’s salvation invitation, Jesus graciously grants the most blessed provision. I want to remind you of some of the passages we've looked at. Not too long ago, beginning with John 14:1, “Let not your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in Me. In my Father's house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you, for I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, you may be also.” Verse 13, that same 14th chapter, “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. If you love Me you will keep My commandments and I will ask the Father and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever, that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him. But you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you. After a little while the world will behold Me no more, but you will behold Me. Because I live, you shall live also.” Blessed assurances! Verse 27, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” Chapter 16 verse 33, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage, I have overcome the world.” John chapter 17 verse 14, in the Lord's prayer to the Father, “I have given them Thy word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not ask Thee to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth. Thy word is truth. As Thou didst send Me into the world. I also have sent them into the world, and for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. I do not ask in behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word that they may all be one, even as Thou, Father, art in Me and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us, that the world may believe that Thou did send Me. And the glory which Thou hast given Me, I have given to them that they may be one, just as We are One, I in them and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, that the world may know that Thou did send Me and didst love them even as Thou didst love Me.” These are staggering statements of assurance for those who respond to the Lord's invitation! John is crystal clear about his Spirit filled goal in writing this account. We saw it in chapter 19 verse 35, “so that you also may believe.” We noted this at the end of chapter 20, “These have been written,” he says there many other things that could have been written, but, “these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”
I just want to close this morning with this thought. I want to really---my desire is to impress the upon our hearts this morning. This is the reason for this record. The record of Christ that we have been studying, is not something simply to satisfy our curiosity or to make us more sound theologically. It is meant primarily so that you and I might believe. And I want to remind you this morning that belief is more than many times we think of belief is trust. That's what this word means that John is using here. It's a very simple word. That you may trust Christ. We trust Christ for salvation. That's the most important thing, that's where that trust begins. Is it not? But belief continues. You can go throughout the New Testament and see this, that trusting Christ is not something we do just for salvation but for everything, and I mean everything. One of the things that has really---that just, really, in praying this week, the Lord really convicted me of this number of times just how many areas---ways in which I fail, simply because of this one thing. I do not trust. I just simply do not trust Him. I can tell you I'm trusting Him. I can tell you He's worthy to be trusted. I can say all the right things. And most of you, my guess would be, can all say the right things too. But my question this morning is this, do we trust Christ? It is not enough just to trust Him for salvation and go on our merry way do everything in our own strength, or do everything however we see fit to do it, or to try to address the problems and difficulties in life, in some---in any way we can figure out how to how to cope with them. That's not right. This witness is reliable and this witness has been born so that you and I might trust Christ. If we trust Him for salvation, we have to trust Him for everything else. There's no in between. There is no---there's no segmenting these things apart can't. You can't say I'm trusting Him for this, but not so much for this. It doesn't work that way. Believing is trusting, trusting Jesus exclusively and trusting Him completely. What’s that simple admonition that we all are familiar with in Proverbs? “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.” I love that verse because it clarifies it so well. My tendency is to think that I can still lean on my own understanding a little bit, and still trust. No can do. You can’t trust with all your heart and still lean on your own understanding. The two are exclusive. You can't have it both ways. It's one or the other. I'm either trusting Him with all my heart or I'm lean on my own understanding, to some extent or another. It’s one or the other. And it really just has struck me as we come to the end of this---this gospel account. Here it is. Here’s the witness. We know that it's true. You look at the way that you verify the credibility of a witness and this witness is impeccable. You can't find a stronger more reliable and competent witness to anything that's ever happened on this planet than this witness. The verification is beyond dispute. That's why, that is why so many millions of people have come to believe it with all their heart and throw their whole lives, cast their whole lot with Christ. Still, 2000 years later after all the accusations all the potential problems with this witness that people have tried to come up with; this witness is credible, it’s believable and if it is, why am I not trusting, that's the question I guess I asked myself this morning. That's the reason this witness is here so that I might trust the Lord, not just for salvation, but for every moment of my life and for all of eternity. Because these words are true, it is our greatest responsibility and privilege to trust in the Lord of glory with all our heart, to love Him, to serve Him with all of our being, to give Him the preeminence in every moment of our lives, to rely upon Him for every momentary need, for salvation and for life everlasting. Let’s bow together in prayer.
This morning we’re going to read the last two verses. John's Gospel, John chapter 21 verses 24 and 25.
“This is the disciple who bears witness of these things, and wrote these things, and we know that his witness is true. And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books which were written.”
We’ve come to the last of John's Gospel, our study our consideration of this portion of God's word this morning, and we want to look in closing at these last two verses, especially the 24th verse this morning. At the conclusion of John's Gospel, John makes an emphatic declaration about the reliability of what it is that he's written. This is a statement that is somewhat similar to the statement that he makes at the conclusion of our Lord's suffering, and then death on the cross. You recall back in John 19 verse 35 he said this,
“And he who has seen has borne witness and his witness is true and he knows that he is telling the truth so that you also may believe.”
John, in that passage there in the 19th chapter and then at the close of this---of this gospel, he sets himself forth as a first-hand and fully reliable witness to the things that he's written. This kind of statement invites the closest scrutiny, but it also anticipates a favorable conclusion. A reliable first-hand witness is of immeasurable value in determining the validity of any serious claim. Stop and think about that this morning how important a first-hand, a reliable first-hand witness is. This reality plays out in our judicial system all of the time. Does it not? Importance of a reliable first-hand witness. A credible first-hand witness is the strongest evidence in convincing a jury of 12 people that a defendant is guilty. That is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. You can have the best lawyers, you can have all kinds of physical evidence, and some of it is impressive these days, but any prosecutor would tell you that what they want more than anything else is a credible first-hand witness. That’s not always possible, but when you have that you have a lot. In this very concept that we see worked out in our criminal justice system day by day, we recognize something that's very important, we recognize that it is not necessary to personally witness a moment in time in order to determine that it is true even beyond the threshold of reasonable doubt. We recognize that, do we not? It is not necessary to personally witness a moment in time in order to determine that it is true even beyond the threshold of reasonable doubt. This concept is a basic concept, of course, but it's extremely important. It’s something we take for granted in life. If you and I could never be convinced of anything beyond our own personal sphere of experience, we would become paralyzed, we would be confined to the moment, we would be isolated from the most beneficial and sublime realities possible to humanity, when you think about it. This is something that's very basic. It’s something that we count on, we depend on, and we incorporate it constantly in our lives. We may not think about it all the time. But even in the area of history---there would be no history if this was not true. There wouldn't be anything that you could write about what happened in the past unless you had experienced it personally, that would be of any value to you, that you could put any confidence in. Obviously, this is an important matter. Nowhere is this concept more crucial than in the matter of divine revelation. Can we be certain of what is recorded in the Bible? Is it something we can be absolutely certain of? We make that determination about many things that we’re confronted with in this world. Specifically, this morning as it applies the passage were looking at, can we be certain of what John has recorded about Jesus of Nazareth? Now I want you to notice what John says in this 24th verse. “This is the disciple who bears witness of these things and wrote these things and we know (we know) that his witness is true.” Notice John doesn't just set forth his witness has been fully reliable, but he claims that it is possible for others to be fully convinced of his truthfulness. “This is the disciple who bears witness of these things and we know, (we know) that his witness is true.” How can this be? How, and I think this is important, how do we determine the credibility of someone who has borne witness of something we could not have seen for ourselves? How do we determined that? How do we decide what to believe? Every thought about that? How you do you decide who's witness to believe and who’s witness to reject? This is something that each of us has to do many times throughout our lives though we don't even probably give it a lot of thought much of the time. Now when it comes to really crucial issues, and if you're being seated---if you are on a jury, and you're given that responsibility, then you are going to take that pretty seriously. Someone's life could be in the balance in the extreme case. But this is true for lots of things that come our way in life. We have to make a determination and there's nothing quite like a first-hand witness, a reliable, credible, first-hand witness. Nothing like it.
There are some simple but crucial observations to be made when we make this determination. I like to just maybe---if you could think of yourself as being on a jury this morning, and thinking this through, weighing this out, trying to take a neutral position if you will. Stepping back and saying, “How can I be sure of what John says? How can I know that his witness concerning Jesus of Nazareth is true?” Several things that I want to bring to your attention.
The first thing that you consider in regards to reliable witness, is motive; it’s motive. Does this witness have a motive, have a clear motive to lie? That's really what it comes down to, does it not, when you try to establish the credibility of a witness on the stand. The question is whether or not, first of all, that this witness has the right motive? Or, more importantly, and it usually from the negative perspective, does this witness have a motive to not tell the truth? I want you to think about this in relation to John, the apostle. Would there be any means by which we could determine that it would be obvious that this man had the motive to be untruthful in his description of Jesus of Nazareth? Think back on the life that this man lived. John is writing this record of the account of the Lord Jesus Christ many years after the synoptic Gospels had been written. It was most likely somewhere around 85 to 90 A.D. when John wrote this gospel. So, this is a long time after Jesus had died and had been raised from the dead and ascended to the Father. Many, many, years have passed. Probably close to 60. Well over half a century had passed, and many, many, years had passed since the last of the other three Gospels had been written. John had lived a life that had indeed embraced the costliness, the very difficulties of declaring these things to be true, of laying hold of them and embracing them personally. He ended up banished to the island of Patmos for some time towards the very end of his life. And from what we know later on, he was actually able to go, to leave there, and die, in one of the few---if probably the only of the apostles that died of natural causes, as opposed to being martyred. What would have been his monetary gain to be untruthful in this? What would have been his motive to lie, to distort the record of Jesus of Nazareth? Especially again, keeping in mind that point in time in his life when this was written. Pretty difficult to find a motive, any clear motive, any clear opportunity for him to have a motive that would throw into question or throw doubt upon his record.
A second thing---I want to go to these fairly quickly because I realize we don't have time to work them all out completely, and maybe you'll have an opportunity to do that on your own as you meditate on this, because it’s really important. How do I know this is true? So, the first thing is to be considered is motive. If it's clear, if in a courtroom a lawyer can---the defense lawyer can make it very obvious that this witness has---clearly has a motive to not tell the truth, that's going to may throw that witnesses testimony out the window. A second thing, and that is the maturity and the mental alertness of the witness. One thing is obvious. If you have a witness that is too young, it can be pretty difficult to believe their testimony. You aren't really sure. Do they really even understand what's going on, what's happened. Was John just a little boy when these things happened, so now he's looking back on them and blowing them out of proportion, or really not having the ability to understand even what he had seen at that point in time, and then interpreting it later on. I think that’s pretty clear, we know that very clearly that John was he was a contemporary of the Lord. He was not just a little one. But more importantly, what about his mental alertness? Is there reason to question the mental capacity of this witness? For example: Is his witness one where he is rambling off in one direction and then another, hard to follow, he’s incoherent. That's the kind of things were looking for. Here’s somebody who is bearing witness, but they tend to sort of ramble and get way off the subject and it's even very difficult to follow them. Surely, I would say, I would think that we could say, after going through John's Gospel, nothing could be further from the truth in the record that we have before us. This is a man who is mentally alert. This is a man who wrote out very concisely, very clearly, very coherently, this record of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ.
A third thing that you consider when it comes to the reliability of a witness; is there consistency. This is extremely important. Here’s someone in a courtroom there, bearing witness to certain facts, and as questions are asked them, and as they describe for the judge and the jury what happened there begins to be inconsistencies in their account. Their credibility is greatly compromised. I learned this firsthand many years ago, I think was about 40 years ago that I went to Small Claims Court and appeared before a judge with a customer that didn't want to pay their bill. And I remember the judge was very patient, he listened to each of our sides of the issue. I described my point of view, the customer described his point of view. And I will never forget, when we were done, the judge said---looked to the customer and he said, he said, “You know, on the things you've said, you contradicted yourself several times.” And then he said right out, he said, “Because of that, you've lost credibility.” I thought---I’ve never forgotten that. How important that is. You contradict yourself and, boy, it's hard to believe a witness like that. I would again submit to you this morning, the record of this account. Is there inconsistency? The consistency of this account is actually remarkable when you think about it. John is clear about his testimony, the witness that he bears. There is no inconsistency in it. I challenge you to consider that.
A fourth thing to consider when you consider the reliability of a witness, and that is the nature of the testimony itself. The nature of the testimony itself. For example: Is it related factually, or is there an obvious tendency towards misrepresentation, i.e., exaggeration, or just leaving out important details. Are there included in that testimony, that witness, pertinent, specific, personal, details that could have only been known by someone who was right there. Think of all the times we've noticed that in John's Gospel, little details that he noticed, specific things that he brought to brings to our attention, things that are not brought to the attention to our attention in the other three Gospels. Think about some of those very specific things that John details for us. We won’t take the time to go through those again. We won't have the time to do that this morning. We've been through these, and I ask you to consider that.
Another thing in regards to the nature of the testimony, and that is---is the narrative original. Is this coming straight from this man, or does it become obvious after a time that he's repeating something that you sort of become legend, he's repeating certain phrases and things that other people have said and he's latched onto them. Many times, this is the case with a witness and it compromises their credibility. It becomes obvious they're just mimicking what they've been told to say, or what they expect you or think that you want to hear. Surely that can't be said of this account. John says many things in this account that undoubtedly, we wouldn't want to hear---his readers. It's not that he's placating his readers. He's not declaring and he’s not testifying of just those things that he assumes we would want to hear. He's a firsthand witness. Here’s someone who saw these things. He includes very important details. He’s is not prone to exaggeration. He declares what happened and he declares it from his own perspective.
A fifth thing to be considered in the reliability of the witness, and that is this; is there a corroborative witness. That is to say, is there another witness who will corroborate or who will verify what this witness is saying. In a criminal case, there's nothing quite so important as an eyewitness, but far more powerful is two or more credible eyewitnesses. Pretty tough to get around. If you have two or more witnesses whose stories match-up, whose stories are the same, who are consistent in what they say, who can include details from their perspective of how they saw something transpire---it’s extremely powerful evidence. Is it not? Is there corroborative witness in the case of John's testimony? I don't know how there could be much more corroborative and powerful witness alongside that of John. Think of those other apostles who also walked with Jesus, who listened to Him, who observed what He said, and what He did, His teaching, the way that He lived, His death, His burial, His resurrection. When you think of corroborative witnesses in this case there's really nothing quite like it. You would be hard-pressed to find any case that is so---so strongly evidenced as this. Here you have 12 men who knew the truth. Every one of them, with the exception of John as far as we know from the historical record, gave up their lives not in one mass suicide, but individually over periods of time alone, in other places where they were proclaiming the gospel. Of course, we have record of who James was killed with the sword by Herod. We know that Peter was crucified. Paul was beheaded, both of them killed under Nero. We have accounts from Josephus and other historians regarding the other of the apostles, one by one they died they laid down their lives. You talk about a corroborative witness, every one of them laid down their lives for the same witness about Jesus of Nazareth. Not one of them had something different or inconsistent to declare about Christ. Every one of them for the same witness and gave up their lives for that witness. Time and again, all they would've had to do was simply let go of it, let it go---forget this. No longer---there's no---no longer are you to mention this, no longer are you to proclaim this to be true and your life can be spared. Not one of them chose to do that. Very difficult lives that these men faced, very difficult pressures. They were ostracized, ridiculed, mocked, driven away from the people who were the “Who's Who” in the religious world of their day. Is there corroborative witness? You bet. To me it’s one of the most powerful things. One of the most powerful evidences of the truth of the gospel. If you think about this, people will say, “Well, you know, what about these people who give up their lives?” There’s people all over this world who give up their lives for a cause. How many Muslims have blown themselves up for their cause, because they're firmly convinced that they’ll go to heaven for doing so. What's the difference? The difference is huge. The difference is this, those Muslims don't know that what they believe is true. These men knew that what they believed was true. They were first hand witnesses of the teaching, the miraculous power, the death, and the resurrection of God's Christ. If they were bearing false witness, they knew they were bearing false witness. That's the distinction, and it's a huge distinction. You don't die for something you know to be false. You don't stand for something, you don't live your life or something, you don't give your whole life to something that you know is a lie. You might give your whole life, and millions of people in this world do and are doing so to this day, giving their lives for something they believe to be true, but they don't know that it's true. They can't be certain that it’s true. The evidence isn't there. They've been indoctrinated. These men had not been indoctrinated. They had become convinced because they had been firsthand eyewitnesses of the Lord Jesus.
A sixth question to ask about a witness to determine the reliability, is there corroborative evidence? Is there corroborative witness, is there corroborative evidence? Is there evidence of genuine impact directly related to the witness that is being made, that is to say, if this witness is true, that in many cases, there would be, not in every case, but in this case, there most certainly would be, evidence that it is true, and that it is believable, and that it is being believed, that their witness is being believed? I ask you is there any such evidence of John's witness? At the time that John wrote this he could say, we know that his witness is true. Think of how many more people 60 years later knew that this witness was true when John wrote this as opposed to the time these events took place. Now I ask you, how many more people know that this is true, have come to realize the truth and the validity of his witness, since that time, almost 2000 years later? It's not just a few dozen or a few hundred or a few thousand, or even a few million, it’s a lot. But even at the time that John wrote this would've been thousands upon thousands whose lives and transformed.
One last question that you ask in considering whether a witness is reliable, Is there a more reasonable explanation for all this? Here's the witness that John bears of Christ. Is there, is it possible there's a better explanation for this? This many times is what takes place in a courtroom. That lawyer is trying to get trying to come up with something---what, what about this possibility? Couldn't this be what really happened, so that your mistaken? Is that the case in the witness of John? Is there another rational explanation for his testimony? You know, it's interesting over time, to recognize to listen to some of the theories that people have put forward. And it's not surprising to see how, how briefly they’ve lasted---the fact that they’ve gained no traction. You have to come up with some pretty silly and childish theories, that's all you're left with to try and undermine a witness this powerful. What a remarkable thing. It's no accident. It is no accident, it is by divine appointment that God has provided so powerful a witness concerning His Christ. You and I can know that this witness is true.
Now, I want to ask you this morning, or I’ll make this statement. In the light of so strong a witness, there are far reaching implications. Are there not? If this witness is to be believed, if it is true, if this is a reliable, a credible witness, then we've got some things here to really think about. We've got something here to build our whole life on. The claims, the teaching, the assurances of the eternal Word made flesh, are to be taken more seriously than anything or anyone else, period. If this witness is that reliable. There's nothing more important because of those claims, because of the record that we have just gone through in John's gospel. If these things are true, if this witness is fully reliable, then this witness is more important than anything or anyone else we could ever consider in this life. This is life itself. That's what Jesus Himself claimed. I remind you of some of the statements that are made in John's Gospel, at the very outset of his gospel. How does John begin this record? “In the beginning.” This goes back further than Genesis 1:1. If you've ever seen a chronological Bible. Sometimes you'll see some of these are published and they’re published in chronological order. This is the first verse, “In the beginning was the Word.” This was before the earth was created. “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the word was God.” Verse 14, “And the Word became flesh.” This is the witness that’s before us, Eternal God made flesh, dwelt among us, “And we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John the Baptist makes the remarkable declaration later on in that first chapter when he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Consider---I remind you of those great, those grand statements of the Lord Jesus Himself concerning who He is. “I Am the Bread of Life.” “I Am the Light of the world.” “I Am the door.” “I Am the Good Shepherd.” “I Am the Resurrection and the Life.” “I Am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” “I Am the true vine.” In the light of who Jesus is, you stop and consider then, these are the statements---this is the witness that is born. These are the statements Jesus made. And in conquering death, He verified every last word that He had ever said. In the light of who He is, He makes the most blessed of all invitations and assurances in relation to who He declares Himself to be. Going back to some of those very same declarations, John chapter 6 verse 35, “I Am the Bread of Life.” Notice the invitation. “He who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.” Verse 37, “The one who comes to me I will certainly not cast out.” Chapter 7 verse 37 and 38. “If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, from his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.” Chapter 8 verse 12, “I Am the Light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life.” John chapter 10 verse 7, “Jesus therefore said to them again, truly, truly, I say to you I Am the door of the sheep. All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I Am the door. If anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly.” Recall what Jesus said to Nicodemus in chapter 3 verse 16, a verse so well-known, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 11 verse 25, “Jesus said to Martha, I Am the Resurrection and the Life. He who believes in Me,” notice this invitation and assurance, “He who believes in Me shall live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die.” This is the witness. This is the witness that John bears concerning Christ, the credible the reliable witness.
For those who respond to the Lord’s salvation invitation, Jesus graciously grants the most blessed provision. I want to remind you of some of the passages we've looked at. Not too long ago, beginning with John 14:1, “Let not your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in Me. In my Father's house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you, for I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, you may be also.” Verse 13, that same 14th chapter, “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. If you love Me you will keep My commandments and I will ask the Father and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever, that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him. But you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you. After a little while the world will behold Me no more, but you will behold Me. Because I live, you shall live also.” Blessed assurances! Verse 27, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” Chapter 16 verse 33, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage, I have overcome the world.” John chapter 17 verse 14, in the Lord's prayer to the Father, “I have given them Thy word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not ask Thee to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth. Thy word is truth. As Thou didst send Me into the world. I also have sent them into the world, and for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. I do not ask in behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word that they may all be one, even as Thou, Father, art in Me and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us, that the world may believe that Thou did send Me. And the glory which Thou hast given Me, I have given to them that they may be one, just as We are One, I in them and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, that the world may know that Thou did send Me and didst love them even as Thou didst love Me.” These are staggering statements of assurance for those who respond to the Lord's invitation! John is crystal clear about his Spirit filled goal in writing this account. We saw it in chapter 19 verse 35, “so that you also may believe.” We noted this at the end of chapter 20, “These have been written,” he says there many other things that could have been written, but, “these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”
I just want to close this morning with this thought. I want to really---my desire is to impress the upon our hearts this morning. This is the reason for this record. The record of Christ that we have been studying, is not something simply to satisfy our curiosity or to make us more sound theologically. It is meant primarily so that you and I might believe. And I want to remind you this morning that belief is more than many times we think of belief is trust. That's what this word means that John is using here. It's a very simple word. That you may trust Christ. We trust Christ for salvation. That's the most important thing, that's where that trust begins. Is it not? But belief continues. You can go throughout the New Testament and see this, that trusting Christ is not something we do just for salvation but for everything, and I mean everything. One of the things that has really---that just, really, in praying this week, the Lord really convicted me of this number of times just how many areas---ways in which I fail, simply because of this one thing. I do not trust. I just simply do not trust Him. I can tell you I'm trusting Him. I can tell you He's worthy to be trusted. I can say all the right things. And most of you, my guess would be, can all say the right things too. But my question this morning is this, do we trust Christ? It is not enough just to trust Him for salvation and go on our merry way do everything in our own strength, or do everything however we see fit to do it, or to try to address the problems and difficulties in life, in some---in any way we can figure out how to how to cope with them. That's not right. This witness is reliable and this witness has been born so that you and I might trust Christ. If we trust Him for salvation, we have to trust Him for everything else. There's no in between. There is no---there's no segmenting these things apart can't. You can't say I'm trusting Him for this, but not so much for this. It doesn't work that way. Believing is trusting, trusting Jesus exclusively and trusting Him completely. What’s that simple admonition that we all are familiar with in Proverbs? “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.” I love that verse because it clarifies it so well. My tendency is to think that I can still lean on my own understanding a little bit, and still trust. No can do. You can’t trust with all your heart and still lean on your own understanding. The two are exclusive. You can't have it both ways. It's one or the other. I'm either trusting Him with all my heart or I'm lean on my own understanding, to some extent or another. It’s one or the other. And it really just has struck me as we come to the end of this---this gospel account. Here it is. Here’s the witness. We know that it's true. You look at the way that you verify the credibility of a witness and this witness is impeccable. You can't find a stronger more reliable and competent witness to anything that's ever happened on this planet than this witness. The verification is beyond dispute. That's why, that is why so many millions of people have come to believe it with all their heart and throw their whole lives, cast their whole lot with Christ. Still, 2000 years later after all the accusations all the potential problems with this witness that people have tried to come up with; this witness is credible, it’s believable and if it is, why am I not trusting, that's the question I guess I asked myself this morning. That's the reason this witness is here so that I might trust the Lord, not just for salvation, but for every moment of my life and for all of eternity. Because these words are true, it is our greatest responsibility and privilege to trust in the Lord of glory with all our heart, to love Him, to serve Him with all of our being, to give Him the preeminence in every moment of our lives, to rely upon Him for every momentary need, for salvation and for life everlasting. Let’s bow together in prayer.
